Omer Asik given an NBA flop warning, says he fell for a reason

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Asik insists fall not a flop
Rockets center Omer Asik was giving a warning for flopping Monday against the Spurs, but said he did not fall to fool the officials who had already called a foul on the Spurs’ Tim Duncan.

Asik said he intentionally fell away from Duncan because after Duncan had made contact with him near his shoulder he was concerned he would be hit in the face. Asik was playing with a broken nose and has been hit in the face often this season, twice needing to leave the game for stitches and once when the nose was broken.

“I just like fall away because this year I had a lot of hits on my face and last week I got my nose hit and had a small fracture,” Asik said. “I fell because I tried to protect my face. I didn’t try to flop. I don’t know what is going to happen with this.

“My agent told the players’ association. I don’t know what is going to happen, but I wasn’t trying to flop or anything. They called a foul. I just didn’t want to break my nose.”

A subsequent violation of the NBA flopping rule would draw a $5,000 fine.

McHale doesn’t focus on foe
The Rockets went from playing the Spurs to the Wizards, going from the team with the best record to the team with the worst.

But despite coaching a young team that he hoped would not take Washington lightly, Rockets coach Kevin McHale said the opponent is not the point for his squad.

“To be truthful, like the other night, I didn’t care about San Antonio,” McHale said. “We play San Antonio four times. We play ourselves 82 times.

“I care so little about the other team. We have to prepare our team to play every single night. Our transition defense, our close-outs aren’t good enough.

“I’m not worried about them. I’m worried about how we play. That’s always been my emphasis. I never understood teams that worried that much about a team you play twice a year. We play ourselves every night. We’ve got to get better.”